From: "Ilya V. Yakovlev" <IYAKOVLE@student.uwsuper.edu>
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To: thomas.holter@stv.uio.no (Thomas Holter)
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 1995 08:55:57 CST6CDDT
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Subject: Face Value
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In the remarkably varied and accomplished musical career of one Phil 
Collins there are three particularly pivotal moments: joining the 
group Genesis in 1970; taking over the band's lead vocal spot in 1975 
(following the departure of Peter Gabriel); and releasing his first 
solo album, "FACE VALUE," in 1981. Of the three, it is the latter 
which led to a most unexpected turn of events - the emergence of Phil 
Collins as a superstar in his own right. Recognized first as one of 
rock's premier drummers, then as one of  its most expressive singers 
and strongest frontmen, Phil revealed yet more dimensions of his 
burgeoning talent with the release of "FACE VALUE." Where his 
songwriting skills had been previously subsumed within the Genesis 
collective, he now began to define a musical persona clearly distinct 
from the band's output.

Ironically, Phil may never have even had a solo career if it hadn't 
been for a traumatic event in his personal life. In 1979, Phil was 
striving to cope with the emotional repercussions of a painful 
divorce from his first wife. At the same time, Genesis was in the 
midst of a year-long hiatus while band mates Tony banks and Mike 
Rutherford worked on solo projects. So Collins found himself at home 
in England with a room full of musical equipment and a heart full of 
unresolved feelings.

As he recalls: "I had just gotten this eight-track recorder, which I 
put in the main bedroom of my house in England, and I started 
sleeping in another room. As I was learning how to operate the 
machine, I started writing bits. All I had was a grand piano, a 
Prophet 5 synthesizer, a Fender Rhodes piano, and one of the original 
Roland drum machines. I just started playing around, and lots of 
emotional things were coming out.. One by one, I was finding that the 
bits were growing into songs."

Prior to the recording of "FACE VALUE," Phil had been pursuing 
musical interests outside of Genesis - most notably with the jazz 
fusion ensemble known as Brand X (which he co-founded in 1975). 
Widely admired as a true musician's musician, he was also enlisted 
for stick duty on albums by the likes of Brian Eno, ex-Genesis mate 
Peter Gabriel, Thin Lizzy, John Cale, Robert Fripp, and others.

With Genesis, Phil had always made major contributions to the band's 
collective writing process: but the events which led to the making of 
"FACE VALUE" marked a huge leap forward in his musical life. "This 
was the first batch of songs I'd ever written on my own," he states. 
"As far as I was concerned, all I was doing was just having fun with 
a tape machine, while I was getting myself together emotionally. A 
year or so later, I remember sitting in a car with my manager, Tony 
Smith, playing him this cassette of the songs I'd recorded and mixed 
at home, and he said to me, 'This sounds great; you should put it out 
as an album.' Until then, I hadn't even conceived of doing a solo 
record."

So it was that Phil had unwittingly turned a gut-wrenching personal 
situation into a source of creative inspiration. "It is without a 
doubt," he states, "that had I not gone through what I went through, 
'FACE VALUE' would not have been made, because I wouldn't have been 
jolted into writing songs. I had never thought of myself as a singer, 
either, until Peter (Gabriel) left Genesis. It takes that kind of 
jolt to push you into things.

"My career and my life would not have gone in the direction they 
have," Phil continues. "I wouldn't be writing songs like I do now, 
and if I had done a solo album at all, it would have been more of a 
Brand X-type thing. Also, on the personal side, I wouldn't have met 
my second wife Jill, and we wouldn't have had our daughter, Lily. It 
would be such a vastly different kind of life that is impossible to 
think what it would be like."

Having done home demos of virtually all the songs that would end up 
on "FACE VALUE," Phil then returned to the Genesis fold for the 
recording of "DUKE," released in 1980. In fact, two of the songs Phil 
had written at home - "Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask" - 
ended up being recorded by the trio for that album. After the 
completion of "DUKE" (which was followed by a Genesis world tour), 
Phil once again turned his attentions to his first solo outing.

In a break from traditional recording practices, rather than do all-
new versions of the songs he had already recorded at home, Phil used 
the demos themselves as the basic tracks for the finished album. "To 
me, it was such a breakthrough," he comments, "because people always 
go into studios and try to beat the demos; they try to recreate the 
atmosphere they'd had originally. I didn't want to do that; I 
couldn't do that - it was emotionally impossible for me.

"So I went into the studio and copied my eight-track tapes onto a 24-
track machine. I then used the remaining 16 tracks to overdub the 
rest of the instruments - like real drums, guitar and bass parts, 
horns strings, and final voices. But the original feel of the songs 
was still there. So, for instance, on 'In The Air Tonight,' all the 
keyboards you hear and the drum machine were done at my house. At 
least 50 to 60 percent of every song, if not the lion's share, was 
done at home."

The result was a series of songs which preserved the original 
intimacy and intensity of those home demos, while also leading to 
some unorthodox overdubbing sessions. As Phil explains: "A song like 
'Hand In Hand' was basically made up as I went along, so if I had 
made a mistake on the demo, or if there was an odd bar length, then I 
made the instruments I was overdubbing later play the mistake. If you 
get enough people playing a mistake, it sounds like you meant it. It 
was that kind of attitude towards it that led to the rest of my 
albums - because I knew that I could do it at home and have fun with 
it, and not have the pressure."

When it came time to add those additional musicians to the basic home 
recordings, Phil seized the opportunity to "use people whose work I 
really admired; I basically went for my heroes." The roster of 
special guests on "FACE VALUE" included friend and neighbor Eric 
Clapton, the Earth Wind & Fire horn section, violinist Shankar, 
vocalist Stephen Bishop, bassist Alphonso Johnson, and Ronnie Scott 
on tenor sax. Legendary producer Arif Mardin handled the strings 
arrangements, while other contributing players included guitarists 
Daryl Stuermer & Joe Partridge, bassist John Giblin, keyboardist 
Peter Robinson, and the voices of children from the churches of Los 
Angeles.

Produced by Phil, with assistance from Hugh Padgham, "FACE VALUE" 
ranges from heavily R&B/jazz-influenced tracks to deeply reflective 
ballads. All the songs were written solely by Phil, with two notable 
exceptions. One of these found Phil actually "covering" a Genesis 
song, "Behind The Lines," a joint Banks/Collins/Rutherford 
composition which appeared on the "DUKE" album. Phil explains: "While 
we were working on 'DUKE,' at one point we were playing 'Behind The 
Lines' back at high speed just to get past it and on to the next 
thing. At double speed, it sounded like the Jackson Five, and I 
thought it had a great groove. Of course, we weren't going to re-
record the Genesis version, so everyone else in the band said, 'Well, 
you cover it; you do it like this.'"

For the album's closing track, Phil recorded his version of Lennon & 
McCartney's "Tomorrow Never Knows." "I always wanted to cover a 
Beatles song, so I chose one that nobody else had ever done, at least 
as far as I knew. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is a great song. When the 
Beatles did it, it was very psychedelic, and I felt there was a lot 
of melody that was struggling to get out."

"FACE VALUE" introduced a number of musical strains which have since 
become Collins trademarks. The brooding, ominous opening track, "In 
The Air Tonight," became a most unlikely signature tune, with a drum 
sound that is among the most-imitated in modern music. That ground-
breaking song set the stage for a series of highly personal songs 
with universal appeal. "I still think 'If Leaving Me Is Easy' is one 
of my best ballads - for me, it still hits the nail right on the 
head," Phil comments, "as does 'You Know What I Mean.'"

"FACE VALUE" runs a gamut of sounds and emotions: from the anger of 
"In The Air Tonight" to the achingly hopeful "This Must Be Love," 
from the poignant "The Roof Is Leaking" to the instrumental work-outs 
of the mesmerizing "Droned" and the jazz-infused "Hand In Hand." 
Phil's R&B side, rarely heard in his Genesis work up to that time, 
comes dramatically to the fore in such horn-driven tracks as "I 
Missed Again" and "Thunder And Lightning."

A dozen years ago, when Phil Collins started "doodling about" on that 
home eight-track, no one could have possibly predicted what has since 
take place. It is not hyperbole to state that no single artist has 
simultaneously accomplished so much in so many different arenas - 
carving out a hugely successful solo career while remaining the 
frontman in one of rock's greatest bands; producing, writing, and 
playing with other artists; not to mention pursuing another creative 
life as an actor.

In the midst of his many achievements, "FACE VALUE" remains a seminal 
work in Phil's musical universe. "I compare everything I do to this 
album," he says pointedly. "It was all very, very personal - right 
down to making sure the cover looked the way I wanted it; the sleeve 
notes and the label were even in my handwriting. It set the tone for 
the way my whole solo career has gone."

Bob Kaus